• Human Rights Act
• Immigration Act
• Privacy Act

Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Act is designed to ensure that the selection of future employees and the promotion of existing employees occurs without discrimination. The Act makes it clear that both the employer and anyone acting on the employer’s behalf are jointly liable for any discriminatory actions.

You cannot make your decision whether or not to employ based on any of these reasons:

• Sex
• Marital status
• Religious or ethical belief
• Age – from the age of the end of compulsory schooling
• Colour
• Race
• Ethnic or national origin
• Disability
• Political opinion
• Employment status
• Family status
• Sexual orientation

You may not discriminate when advertising, interviewing, making training or promotional decisions, including the use of forms. You cannot escape your obligations under the Human Rights Act by recruiting through employment agencies. You can be held responsible for any discriminatory acts committed by any agency you have commissioned to recruit on your behalf.

Immigration Act

It is an offence to knowingly employ someone who does not have a work permit. You must not employ anyone without a work permit, and must dismiss the employee if you find out later that the person does not have the right to work in this country. You can not breach of the Human Rights Act in this case since the Immigration Act states that an employee working illegally is not legally employable in the first place.

Make sure you ask if the employee has permanent residency or a permit to work in New Zealand.

Privacy Act

The Privacy Act establishes rules for dealing with any personal information collected from an employee or job applicant and limits your ability to ask a previous employer about a prospective employee.

You must ask for written permission from a job applicant to approach a former employer for a reference. A job applicant or employee is entitled to see any reference provided if the referee understands or expects that it would be given to the employee concerned. There is, however, no obligation to disclose the contents of a reference if the person giving it asked that these remain confidential, or where confidentiality is implied.

Personal information about unsuccessful job applicants should be kept for at least 12 months in case a complaint of unfair discrimination is made to the Human Rights Commission.

The Privacy Act also allows employees to look at any personal information held by an employer and to seek a correction if the information is considered inaccurate. If a correction is not made, reasonable steps must be taken to ensure any employee statement about the correction sought is attached to the personal information, the two to be read together for the future. This information could affect the outcome if personal grievance proceedings were later taken.

You can keep the details of any unsuccessful applicants as long as you have asked permission of the applicant. It is important that all personal information on employees and job applications are kept in a locked office or drawer.

For advertising and interviewing advice see other sections on this site.

Before you offer a job to someone make sure you complete at least two verbal reference checks and that you have the signed permission of the applicant to approach the designated referees.

Offer the position verbally to the applicant and draw up a letter of appointment.

NB: Retain all interview notes and documentation for at least 12 months. This is a legal requirement. It is recommended that you retain all documentation relating to employees for at least seven years.

You may wish to present the Employment Agreement and job description to the applicant personally or send to their home address. In either case the new employee has five working days in which they can review the agreement and seek independent advice before signing.

NB: It is now mandatory that all employees have an Employment Agreement. The penalty for not providing this legal documentation is up to $10,000.00. It is recommended that when you present the employee with an agreement you also request the signing of a letter confirming that the employee has received an employment agreement. Keep this on file.

You may wish to include a copy of the company policy and employment handbook with the contract or present this on the employee’s first day or as part of the induction programme.

Templates for employment agreements, referencing forms, letters of appointment and other useful documentation can be downloaded from 
Agreements and Policies